Rousham House Houses

Rousham House is a Jacobean style country house in Oxfordshire, England. The house has been in the ownership of one family since it was built.

Rousham HouseThe manor of Rousham was purchased during the 1630s by Sir Robert Dormer. He immediately began construction of the present mansion; however, work was halted by the start of the civil war. The Dormers were a Royalist family, and so the house was attacked by Cromwellian soldiers who stripped the lead from the newly completed roofs.

In 1649 the estate was inherited by Robert Dormer's son, also Robert. He left the house much as his father had created it, repairing only the ravages of the civil war. However, he did more to restore the family fortunes by marrying twice, each time to an heiress. His second wife was the daughter of Sir Charles Cottrell, a high-ranking courtier of King Charles II.

The Cottrell-Dormer family still live at the house, and keep the garden and estate so uncommercialised that no book exists to guide the unwary tourist, and no shop sells colourful postcards or souvenirs. A visit to Rousham today is very similar to one enjoyed by a visitor in the 18th century. While the gardens and buildings are in a superb state of repair, they are not manicured, one does not feel afraid to tread on the grass or to pause for thought on a rustic bench; in such a state the spirit of the 18th century lingers on at Rousham.